Top sports programs of the week

Here are the most watched sports TV programs for the previous week, according to The Nielsen Co.:

Top Sports Telecasts from Feb. 22-28, 2010

Network

Date

Start time

Program

Viewers

NBC

Feb. 26

8:30 p.m.

Winter Olympics Friday prime

24,521,609

NBC

Feb. 25

8 p.m.

Winter Olympics Thursday prime

22,920,269

NBC

Feb. 23

8 p.m.

Winter Olympics Tuesday prime

21,278,918

NBC

Feb. 22

8 p.m.

Winter Olympics Monday prime

20,926,096

NBC

Feb. 27

8:30 p.m.

Winter Olympics Saturday prime

20,629,548

NBC

Feb. 24

8:30 p.m.

Winter Olympics Wednesday prime

19,808,212

NBC

Feb. 28

Noon

Winter Olympics Sunday

18,312,607

Fox

Feb. 28

7 p.m.

Vancouver Gold (highlight show)

17,993,650

NBC

Feb. 28

2:33 p.m.

Winter Olympics Sunday

10,130,667

NBC

Feb. 28

3:18 p.m

NASCAR Sprint Cup Shelby American

7,154,475

All times Eastern.

The rankings are based on Live + Same Day average audience estimates for all sports telecasts airing between Feb. 22-28, 2010, excluding those that were less than 15 minutes long. The rankings exclude professional wrestling telecasts and Ultimate Fighting (MMA) telecasts.

Copyrighted data of The Nielsen Co. Reprinted with permission. Unauthorized reproduction and use strictly prohibited.